This Blue Beetle Has the Perfect Vanity Plate
Will the drive of a blue, VW Beetle with Virginia plates please stand up?Earlier this week, a [...]
Will the drive of a blue, VW Beetle with Virginia plates please stand up?
Earlier this week, a comics fans saw one of his tweets go viral on Twitter after he noticed and called out a VW Beetle -- color blue, of course -- with the vanity plate "Ted Kord."
If you are not a DC Comics fan, the joke may not be immediately obvious, but Ted Kord is the civilian identity of (one iteration of) the superhero known as the Blue Beetle.
If you look closely at the photograph of the car in question, you can see that the two-tone blue with a thick black line separting the colors closely mirrors Kord's own costume, meaning that in addition to the vanity plate it seems likely the owner had the paint job customized to match the hero.
Anybody who thinks they might get a matching one, note that "Ted Kord" is likely the only one who would fit on a vanity plate, since both Jaime Reyes and Dan Garrett have names too long to fit in most states.
Ted was the second Blue Beetle, and the one most recognizable to comic book fans over 30. The character died in the Countdown to Infinite Crisis one-shot in 2005, and replaced by Jaime Reyes, who had a critically-acclaimed but low-selling comic for a couple of years after. Reyes has enjoyed more success outside of comics than within, appearing on an episode of Smallville and several episodes of Batman: The Brave and the Bold, plus Young Justice and related video games, toys, and the like.
You can see the tweet below.
Which one of you jokers owns this car? pic.twitter.com/jEewGmtBhw
— New phone, Lew dis? (@Still_LRE) August 21, 2018
After years of being dead, Kord reappeared during the 2016 Rebirth reboot, and co-headlined a short-lived Blue Beetle title with Jaime Reyes, in which Ted served as a mentor to the young hero and even donned his old costume a few times.
So far, surprisingly, the owner of the Beetle has not stepped forward. Given that they are presumably a comic book fan and that the image has been shared widely on Twitter, Facebook, and Reddit among comic book fans, it would not be surprising if somebody stepped up to claim the vehicle and answer the initial question, though.
You can comb through the replies for some other fun geek-inspired vanity plates and such, including a Cube with a "Borg" custom plate that previously underwent a similar week of internet fame.
